“Oh crap,” Katie groaned. “This REALLY isn’t good.”
“Oh no it’s fine Katie,” Julia remarked sarcastically. “The hospital staff is quickly turning into geriatrics and preschoolers while I have the staring role as the incredible shrinking pediatrician. Of course this isn’t good!”
Katie blushed, as Julia folded her arms across her chest. Gloria could see that the woman’s lab coat was beginning to bunch around her wrists as it began to envelope her hand. “Katie any idea how we fix this?”
“First things first,” Katie said. “We should all go see mom. Maybe she can give us some insight?”
Julia sighed heavily before nodding. “Well I needed to check on the baby anyway,” she groaned. “But I’m not sure how much help Lisa is going to be. I’m not even sure if she noticed anything. She just looked really uncomfortable the last time I was in, that was it.”
“We have to try,” Gloria shrugged. Coming to an agreement the three women now made their way towards Lisa’s room, Julia trying to walk carefully as her feet no longer fit properly in her heels. As they were about to enter they noticed an elderly male nurse and a young female doctor enter Lisa’s room. Nervously gazing at one another the three followed behind them, expecting the worse.
“Can I help you,” the female doctor asked.
“Dr. Singh,” Julia said. “These are Lisa’s daughters Katie and Gloria. They wanted to check on their mother.” Dr. Singh looked over the girls carefully before turning to Julia. “Okay Dr. Harris,” she said. “Let me just finish up first before they talk with Mrs. Turner.”
Katie and Gloria nodded as they looked at Dr. Singh. Dr. Singh was a young Indian doctor, perhaps the same age as Julia. As the sisters watched they began to notice changes in her appearance. Dr. Singh’s face began to soften as she retreated from her early 30s to her 20s. Katie and Gloria’s eyes urged as the doctor began to look less like a doctor and more like a medical student with each passing moment.
“How are you feeling Mrs. Turner,” Dr Singh asked, her voice becoming lighter with each passing second. “Um okay so far,” Lisa said anxiously. Dr. Singh nodded as she began to examine several charts on Lisa’s bed. Katie watched as the young doctor began growing even younger. The woman’s features softened considerably as she left her 20s and became a teenager once more. “Well Lisa,” Dr. Singh said in a bubbly tone. “It looks like your contractions are now less than 10 minutes apart. That little baby of yours is well on her way. I’m just going to see how much you’ve dialated so far.”
Lisa could only nod as the teenage doctor now lifted to sheet to examine Lisa. The girls watched as the doctor continued to youthen. The girls hair came loose from its bun, descending past her shoulders while her clothing began to become quite baggy on her skinny teenage frame. Katie and Gloria watched as the doctor began to grow smaller as she grew younger. The girls lab coat slowly began to envelope her hands as she examined Lisa. From Lisa’s perspective it appeared as if the girl was lowering herself to the floor as the top of her head disappeared from view. When she was finished with her examination a young girl of perhaps 11 poked her head up, giving Lisa a smile.
“Well Lisa,” the girl said as she shrank from 11 to 10. “Your appear to have dialated to 9 cm so far.” Lisa’s eyes bulged as she looked at the young girl. Dr. Singh gave the preganant woman a toothy grin, showing off a crooked smile that was in desperate need of braces. “Um Dr. Singh,” Gloria asked. “You’ve done this before right?”
Dr. Singh nodded, not noticing her skirt had fallen off her boyish hips, her blouse now acting as a makeshift dress. “Yeah,” the girl said as she reentered the single digits. “I’ve been doing this for a long time now.”
“Dr. Singh is one of the best doctors in the hospital,” Julia said weakly, watching as her colleague raced back towards preschool. “Tank you Dr. Harris,” the now 5 year old girl said happily. “She right I’ve been doin dis for this many years .”
Lisa look struck as the tiny 5 year old held up six fingers indicating her years of experience. The girls childish lisp (and the fact she now looked barely old enough to be in kindergarten) did little to help Lisa’s confidence in the matter. “Um thank you doctor,” Lisa said shakily. “Your welcome,” The young doctor listed. “I be back soon. I gotta have snack and den it’s nap time.”
Julia, Katie and Gloria could only nod dumbly as the preschool doctor skipped out of the room, leaving her shoes and skirt behind as she hummed. As the door closed Lisa looked at her daughters, a look of fury and fear on her face.
“What the fuck,” she hissed. “How the fuck am I supposed to give birth when my doctors are preschoolers!?!?”
“Yeah were trying to figure that out to mom,”Katie answered. “Can you tell me when it started?”
“As soon as me and Jason checked in,” she exclaimed. “Me and Jason noticed as soon as the first nurse came to check on us. The guy went from 30 to 70 like that. We thought we were going crazy, especially when he started talking about returning to the retirement home before check in.”
“So is it Lynne causing this,” Jason asked.
“Yeah we think so,” Gloria stated. “She must be freaking out going through labor. Guess it’s just a defense mechanism.”
“Defense mechanism,” Lisa hissed. “She’s changed every doctor that touched me? How the hell am I going to give birth when every doctor and nurse I’ve seen turns into a preschooler or an old fart?”
“Trying to figure that out,” Katie said sheepishly. Lisa narrowed her eyes as she glared at her daughters. “We’ll figure it out quick,” she growled. “Labor fucking sucks and I want this kid out ASAP.”
“Let me check Lynne’s vitals,” Julia said, trying to get Lisa to relax. “Hopefully the baby is okay?”
“Fine,” Lisa huffed as she layer back in bed. As Julia now began her ultrasound examination, Katie, Lisa and Gloria watched horror struck. The girls watched as Julia began to grow even smaller as she conducted her examination. The woman’s head seemed to slowly sink towards the floor as she examined the child. Julia did not seem to notice as her clothing began to grow even baggier on her diminutive frame. The cuffs of her lab coat began to swallow her hands as she found herself having to look up at the monitor.
“Well she appears to be doing alright,” Julia stated, her voice sounding as if she were inhaling helium. “Hopefully she begins to calm down.”
“Julia,” Katie gasped. Julia looked up at Katie, her eyes going wide as she now looked at her shrinking body. “Damn it,” she groaned. “She did it again. I can’t be more than 4 and a half feet tall now.”
Julia looked herself over, trying to adjust her clothing, which was in danger of falling off her shrinking frame. “Katie, Gloria,” she exclaimed. “You two need to come up with a solution for this and fast. If things keep going like this no one is going to be old enough or tall enough to deliver the baby.”
Katie and Gloria looked between eachother before looking at their parents. They had to come up with a way to control Lynne’s magic before any permanent damage was done to Lisa and Lynne.